Correspondence as a Chronicle-Type Source – The Case of the Letters of Franz Franz

Abstract

Josef Kalasanz Baron Erberg (1771–1843), a wealthy collector and patron who even had connections with the Imperial Court of Vienna, spent the last years of his life in voluntary solitude in his manor house in Dol near Ljubljana. Nevertheless, he wanted to be kept informed, so he hired an Austrian army captain named Franz Franz (1779–1840), who was spending his retirement years in Ljubljana, as an informant. Franz sent almost daily letters to Erberg between 1832 and 1840, thus creating a kind of chronicle of Biedermeier Ljubljana. Although we do not usually associate letters or correspondence with chronicles, Franz’s correspondence can be classified as a chronicle-type source, as his reports are texts in bound form, which provide historical testimony of events in a particular place and are often marked by the writer’s personal viewpoint.

In terms of content, Franz’s letters to Erberg contain mostly local news about Ljubljana and its inhabitants, mainly about Ljubljana’s high society (nobility and high bourgeoisie), which Erberg knew personally, but Franz himself was also a member of it and was able to report first-hand. The lower classes are mentioned less frequently, usually in connection with accidents, crimes, or violent deaths. Franz reported extensively on illnesses, social events in Ljubljana, theatrical performances, and, with the help of correspondents from abroad, also on events in other parts of the monarchy.

If the content of Franz’s letters is to be summarized in terms of newspaper columns, one finds a lot of culture, social life, yellow press, and black chronicles, but there is much less politics, economy, and welfare.